Building community, consensus, and collaboration within the legal profession
Q. Tell us a bit about who you are, your background and law practice, as well as where you practice.
A. I am excited to be the first female South Asian bar president, not only in Washington but also in the country. My parents, both doctors, emigrated from India in the late 1950s and my siblings and I were raised in the U.S. and Canada. My parents instilled in me the importance and value of service. My career trajectory as an attorney has been diverse in a number of ways, encompassing a variety of jurisdictions and types of practice. After graduating from Dalhousie University, I was first admitted to practice law in 1991 as a legal aid lawyer in Newfoundland, Canada, where I cut my teeth practicing criminal and family law in a rural area for three years with 200 open files per year. I moved to Los Angeles in 1993 and became licensed there in 1995. My solo practice in LA was eclectic and I practiced family law, civil litigation, corporate counsel, and campaign finance law for a nonpartisan statewide California ballot initiative. I made Washington my home in 2007 and have been practicing family law in Redmond since 2008.
Q. You took an unusual path to being seated on the Board. What initially motivated you to join WSBA leadership, first as a governor and now as president?
A. I had never specifically set my sights on Bar leadership and my path to Board service was frankly rather happenstance. In 2018 I was an active, engaged member of the WSBA Diversity Committee. I was and remain keenly interested in promoting inclusivity in the legal profession. I attended an event where I happened to meet some WSBA Board members who advised me that a seat on the Board of Governors for Congressional District 1 was vacant. I was intrigued by the prospect of becoming involved with the Bar on a broader level and so I applied to be appointed. After serving two terms as a governor, I am excited to step into a leadership role.
Q. How do you anticipate your role will change from governor to president, and how are you preparing to answer that call?
A. Having assumed the role of acting president last March, when President Hunter Abell took a leave to pursue public office, my transition from governor to president was swift. As a governor, I exercised a vote on the Board as part of my representation of my constituents. As president, by contrast, I lead the meetings where votes are taken, but I cannot vote. I see my presidential role as providing vital support for the democratic process of our Board and the rule of law.
Q. What will your message be to the public as WSBA president?
A. The WSBA cares about access to justice. The WSBA cares about the tremendous burden shouldered by our public defenders and civil legal aid lawyers. The WSBA cares about the desperate shortage of legal services in rural areas. We are engaged in active initiatives to address these issues.
Q. What will your message be to WSBA members?
A. In a time of division and polarization, let’s focus on what unites us rather than what divides us as we do the work of bettering our profession. Let’s respect opposing points of view and honor and protect the rule of law and our democratic process.
Q. What issue or issues do you believe are most important to WSBA members right now? How do you plan to address their concerns?
A. As an organization with 40,000 members, we are by no means monolithic, and members have varying interests and expectations of their Bar. I do know that members care very much that the organization that collects their license fees is financially strong and stable. I also know that our members care about promoting competence and being supported in their areas of practice. I take the role of prudent financial stewardship very seriously and I’m proud that our financial picture is solid and transparent. In terms of the WSBA supporting and promoting educational development and professional competence, I’m very proud to continue supporting our Sections and our CLE efforts, which are both outstanding.
Q. What issue or issues do you believe are most important to the public right now? How do you plan to address their concerns?
A. The public is most directly impacted by lack of access to justice. The Small Town and Rural (STAR) Council is working hard to address the inequities faced by those in rural areas due to lack of available legal services. The WSBA also has a court-appointed Access to Justice Board that does incredible work in addressing access issues. The WSBA’s DEI efforts directly intersect with access to justice issues, and we are working to address systemic inequities in our legal profession.
Q. What is one critical misperception the public holds about legal services and legal professionals that the WSBA can help to overcome?
A. Lawyers and legal professionals often get a bad rap with a collective perception that we only care about money. In my work with the WSBA over the last five years I see how many members, judges, and representatives of our law schools care deeply about access to justice issues and want to serve the needs of unrepresented litigants and defendants. The public may not always see the efforts put forward by the WSBA in this regard, but it is very much part of our ongoing work.
Q. What do you believe the WSBA is doing well?
A. What I think our members don’t see is that the Board of Governors, WSBA Executive Director Terra Nevitt, and the accomplished staff at the Bar are in a place where we truly work collaboratively for the good of our members. The power of that collaboration is evidenced by our many programs and initiatives like our Legal Technology Task Force, our member well-being study, our small town and rural programs, and our Diversity and Inclusion Plan—and this is not an exhaustive list.
Q. In which areas do you think the WSBA needs to improve?
A. We need to do a better job of engaging our membership. Voter turnout in governor elections is astonishingly low, and while our over 1,350 volunteers are obviously engaged, we need to engage our non-volunteer members. We are currently exploring solutions through our Member Engagement Council.
Q. How do you balance service on the Board of Governors (and now as president) with the demands of your practice, and what advice would you give members who are hesitant to volunteer for WSBA committees, boards, or other groups?
A. Board work demands a lot of time and managing one’s practice with that work is always extremely challenging. But it is not impossible. Our Board members come from a variety of practices from government law to big law to solo practice like me. There is no question that this work is a sacrifice involving uncompensated time, but it is important, fulfilling, and interesting work. I would love to see more folks explore the possibility of running for Board positions and any one of us on the Board or staff would be happy to give more information. Representation matters and we need a variety of voices and perspectives on our Board.
Q. What is one thing people may be surprised to learn about you?
A. A writer friend of mine once used my name and likeness to create two characters for a detective novel, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, by John McFetridge. Sunitha was a masseuse who ran with the Hells Angels, and Anjilvel was an always-worried police officer.
Q. What is one question (and answer) that we did not ask you?
A. What is the theme of my year? It is “Building community, consensus, and collaboration within the legal profession.”
TOP 4 PRIORITIES
WSBA President Sunitha Anjilvel’s Areas of Focus
In no particular order:
- To address our statewide crisis of a shortage of lawyers and legal professionals in rural areas. Our Small Town and Rural (STAR) Council (formerly STAR Committee) is hard at work in developing programming designed to respond to the crisis.
- To support a member well-being study—we know that the health and stability of our members directly impacts the effective delivery of legal services.
- To support the work of the recently created Legal Technology Task Force, which will explore technology-related threats and opportunities related to the legal profession.
- To continue to support efforts to make the legal profession more inclusive and thereby also richer and more effective, with improved quality and delivery of legal services. The WSBA has just completed a membership demographic study that will inform a new strategic Diversity and Inclusion Plan that is scheduled to be rolled out in the next few months.
About the author
Sunitha Anjilvel is the 2024-2025 WSBA president.
This article is reprinted from the October, 2024 issue of Washington State Bar News with the permission of the Washington State Bar Association. Any other use of this material without the express written permission of the Washington State Bar Association is prohibited.